1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a workpiece feeder and, more particularly, to a workpiece feeder adapted to feed individual workpieces to the processing main shaft of a cutting metal-working machine automatically and accurately.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 1˜7 show a workpiece feeder adapted to feed individual workpieces to the processing main shaft 100′ of a cutting metal-working machine for processing. The workpiece feeder comprises a frame base 10 having a feed table 40 and a front feed groove 20, and a movable carrier 30 horizontally movable provided at the front side of the frame base. The movable carrier 30 has a left receiving portion 301 and a right receiving portion 302 arranged in parallel The movable carrier 30 is reciprocated to alternatively shift the receiving portions 301 and 302 into alignment with the feed groove 20 for workpieces a′ individually. A straight rod 3011 is forwardly movably provided in the left receiving portion 301. The straight rod 3011 has a front clamp 3012. A sliding block 3021 is provided at the rear side of the right receiving portion 302, and reciprocated in one direction. During the operation of the workpiece feeder, the movable carrier 30 to moved to a receiving position where the right receiving portion 302 is set into alignment with the feed groove 20, and then one workpiece “a′” is moved from the feed table 40 to the right receiving portion 302 (see FIGS. 1 and 2), and then the sliding block 3021 is moved forwards to push the received workpiece “a′” to the feed groove 20 and then returned, and then the movable carrier 30 is moved to let the right receiving portion 302 be received below the feed table 40 (see FIGS. 1, 4, and 5) and the left receiving portion 301 be in alignment with the feed groove 20, and then the front clamp 3012 is clamped on the rear end of the corresponding workpiece “a′”, and then the straight rod 3011 is moved forwards to feed the workpiece “a′”. After processing, the straight rod 3011 is returned to carry the residual butt “a′1” away from the cutting metal-working machine to the rear side of the feed groove 20 (see FIGS. 6 and 7). At this time, the clamp 3012 is opened to release the residual butt “a′1”, enabling the residual butt “a′1” to be moved to a waste material collector 50 through a through hole 201 in the rear side of the feed groove 20. Thus, a feeding cycle is completed.
The workpiece feeding action of this design of workpiece feeder is complicated, resulting in slow workpiece feeding speed. Therefore, this design of workpiece feeder is suitable for use in a particular simple model of cutting metal-working machine, not suitable for use in a fully automatic cutting metal-working machine such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,119,330.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a workpiece feeder that eliminates the aforesaid drawbacks.